Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1887-11-03
MAINE FISHERIES.
Interesting Facts Concerning them
Which wiz Appear in the Report of
Labor Commissioner Matthew'S

ihfesHgation OF the nsh business. the effect
OF large seining and TRAVELLING apparatus, and
the social and educational conditions of
Maine Fishermen, has been received by the
Labor Commissioner and will appear in his
forthcoming report The Commissioner has
also received several individual statements
from fishermen, which will make an interest
ing and valuable chapter of his report:
The social condition of our fishermen.
| ind, compares favorably with that of other
branches of labor. Our own fishermen. that
Is, the Americans mostly have homes They
are not iayishly furnished. but sufficiently SO
Tor comfort As general thing they do
not 1--we IN the crowded part of the town and
their expenses of living are less as. they are
not gwen to style so much as our mechan-
lcs Most of them have small farms that
they I'LL, and with few sheep, a pig and
COW, they are able to live quite comfortably.
Their condition, however, is not improving.
owing TO the depressing effect of large fishing
operations, and if there is not some change
for the better they will be driven from the
business altogether. Its fact that for the past
year or two men engaged at fishing solely
have not made a living for themselves and
families. In the mackerel fishery, in par
hcular, men have been engaged for the whole
season and have not earned one cent At
North Haven where the sole industry is the
mackerel fishing, | saw vessels that had been
nshlng since March (about eight months and
had not even wet their seins; and this, fol-
lowing on last season which was
about the same, it can be seen
what the condition of these men and their
families will be through the winter, especial
ly where they have no other industry to turn
to. In the mackerel fishery the men are
away from home nearly all of the season
consequently they have no opportunity for
farming, the men engaged in cod and other
fisheries who are at home great part of their
time can do. The latter make a tripin few
days, and there is bad weather, waiting for
wind, &c, which gives them opportunity that
the mackerel fishermen do not possess The
consequence is that their condition under
these circumstances cannot be very desirable.
Many will ask, why do they follow the bust
ness if they cannot make living at it: That
is easily answered. 1t is their business.
They have been brought up to it and think
they can do nothing else, and then there is
always hope for the future; like a man en-
gagged in mining, they think they are going to
strike something tomorrow, and so they keep
on and on.
The educational condition of our fishermen
will compare fayoraby with that of other
classes. They generally take lively inter
est in politics, and are active in town affairs,
fayoring anything tending to better the con-
dltlon of their fellow men. Their children
have the benefit of the schools with, perhaps
the exception of the children of those men
who 90 in small boats. In many instances
they take their boys with them as soon
as they are large enough to hoist the jib.
Sometimes the object is a selfish one, but in
most cases it is from necessity; so that this
class of our fishermen are deprived of all but
the winter term of school. The large vessels
have no use for boys; neither do the mack
erel catchers; the work in both cases rcquir-
ing strong arms and steady heads.
The effect of large seining operations on
the mackerel fishery is apparent everywhere.
The business is virtually ruined, and will
have to be abandoned, if the existing condi-
tons continue. The mackerel fleet of North
Haven consists of sixteen vessels ranging from
30 to 100 tons each. They carry on an aver
age fifteen men each. making a total of 240
men. 1t costs from $50 to 800 per month
to feed each crew, or about 5000 to each YES
sci for the season. Some of them start in
March and go South, where they begin on the
mackerel, and then follow them to the Gulf
Iof St. Lawrence and back again. \ war of
determination has been waged, until, at the
present, and for the past two years, the fish,
no doubt endowed with the instinct of self
preservation have refused to show themselves,
OF if they have, have refused to be caught.
Vessels of this feet have returned after the
seasons fishing with not single fish, and
very few of them will pay their cook bill.
(rhe cook goes by the month"; The
best done by any of them will be about $40
to a man. The men go on shares.
The owners fit out the vessel and take half
the fish, the crew paying their share for bar
rels and salt This often comes very hard
on the owners. The men get their living
anyway, and, on board makerel catchcrs, it
has to be the best the market affords. The
seins cost from $1,000 to S14O0 each and some
times they are lost and very often torn so rs
to spoil them. Unless there is a change this
branch of our industry will cease to exist.
As it is, great many have abandoned it and
sought other channels of labor. Half the
men from North Haven, or 1870, belong out
of town great many of them have crews
from Nova Scotia and the other lower Provin-
ces Their povety we know nothing of, but
there will be considerable suffering among
our own people through the failure of the
mackerel fisheries. What is said of North
Haven will apply to the whole State. Now,
what is to be done? have talked with own
ers captains and with men who have been
in the business and studied ii all their lives.
and they all agree on this point, that the
seining has ruined the business, and until it
is stopped and the old method of catching on
the hook adopted there can be nothing better
expected 1t is fact that cannot be disputed
that there are about as many mackerel des-
troved as there are saved. Thousands of
barrels of small mackerel are caught killed,
and thrown away. In the spring the mackerel
caught South are run into New York, fresh.
Often there is no sale for them, the market be-
ing full consequently they are shoveled over
board, being too poor to salt, and thus thous-
ands are destroyed, and at time when they
are spawning. 1t is not generally known
that the simple process of drawing a seine
around school of mackerel, kills them.
They are so excitable that before they can be
taken out of the water n great many kill
themselves The government has passed a
law. to take effect next year, prohibiting the
taking of mackerel before the first of June.
Nothing better could be done, this will
give them a chance to spawn. There is no
other legislation that can help the business
unless SEEMING is abandoned. Now the same
is true of trawlng. When men went fishing
with hand lines fish were always plenty they
brought more money and the men who caught
them Jared better than they do now. Let
me attempt to give an idea of the business
as now carried on. Here is a vessel carrying
ten dories, and one man TO each dory. They
each run 5000 hooks on a trawl. the hooks
being about three feet apart, making $1,000
feet of line handled by each man. 1t will
take him two days to bait these 5000 hooks,
and then all that is wanting is chance TO go
ont. They sometimes have to lay in the har-
Dor for week. After making sail and ar
irving on the ground in few hours, usually
going about twenty miles. dory is dropped
and man commences running out his trawl
A little further on, another is dropped, and so
on, until they are all out the men
always running to leeward. When he has
his trawl all out. he is 5000 feet, or nearly
three miles from the starting point. As the
men run out, they draw nearer to each other
so that, at the farther end they are within
speaking distance. This is done so that in
case it should come up a blow or come in
foggv they will be near together 4 great
many men are lost in this way on the banks. }